1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automatic transmission operating lever of an automobile or the like, particularly to an automatic transmission operating lever equipped with a knob having a switch.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, a four-speed automatic transmission has been becoming widespread in place of the conventional three-speed automatic transmission as an automatic transmission for an automobile or the like. An overdrive gear (fourth-speed gear) is provided in the four-speed automatic transmission, to improve fuel consumption of an automobile cruising at high speed or with a light load. A shift to the overdrive gear is performed by pushing an overdrive switch (O/D switch) provided on an operating knob of the automatic transmission operating lever.
In a conventional automatic transmission operating lever, the O/D switch is connected to a lead wire (conducting wire), which extends from the lower end of the operating knob and is soldered to a wire harness at the exposed end thereof, and the wire harness is connected to the control device of the automatic transmission.
Since soldering the wire harness to the lead wire has been necessary, the number of assembly steps has increased, resulting in high costs.
The object of the present invention is to provide an automatic transmission operating lever with a reduced number of assembly steps, thus contributing to lower costs.
A first aspect of the present invention is an automatic transmission operating lever comprising: a knob with a switch; a lever member including a rod inserted into the knob and a lever base coupled to the rod; and a conducting wire for sending a signal from the switch, the conducting wire being wired in the knob, wherein the lever base is configured with an end face to which the rod is connected, an insertion hole is provided on the end face and into which the conducting wire is inserted, and a guide path communicates with the insertion hole, the guide path leading the conducting wire in a direction crossing an axial direction of the rod.
According to the first aspect constituted as described above, since the guide path guides the conducting wire in a direction crossing the axial direction of the rod, the conducting wire can be guided out to a suitable position upon completion of engagement of the knob with the lever member, thus eliminating the task of extracting the conducting wire and facilitating a connection of the conducting wire to a wire harness connected to the control unit of the automatic transmission. The switch may be an overdrive switch with the conducting wire sending an ON/OFF signal thereof.
A second aspect of the present invention is the automatic transmission operating lever according to the first aspect, in which the knob is configured with a sleeve having a hole into which the rod is inserted, and the conducting wire is wired in the sleeve and extends from an end of the sleeve parallel to an axial direction of the hole of the sleeve.
According to the second aspect constituted as described above, since the conducting wire is wired in the sleeve and extends from the end of the sleeve parallel to the axial direction of the hole of the sleeve, the conducting wire of an appropriate stiffness can be readily inserted into the insertion hole when the rod is inserted into the knob with the sleeve sliding along the rod.
A third aspect of the present invention is the automatic transmission operating lever according to the first aspect, in which the guide path bends the conducting wire with a constant curvature and guides the conducting wire out of a side face of the lever base.
According to the third aspect constituted as described above, since the guide path guides the conducting wire out of a side face of the lever base, a connection of the conducting wire to a wire harness connected to the control unit of the automatic transmission is further facilitated.
A fourth aspect of the present invention is the automatic transmission operating lever according to the first aspect, further comprising: a connector provided in the lever base; and a wire coupling member connected to the connector and provided beside the guide path, wherein the conducting wire extends from the guide path and is located close to the wire coupling member by inserting the rod into the knob, so that the conducting wire can be pressed against the wire coupling member to couple the conducting wire therewith.
According to the fourth aspect constituted as described above, since the conducting wire extends from the guide path and is located close to the wire coupling member simply by inserting the rod into the knob, so that the conducting wire can be pressed against the wire coupling member to couple the conducting wire therewith, soldering work for the connection is eliminated and the number of assembly steps is decreased.
A fifth aspect of the present invention is the automatic transmission operating lever according to the first aspect, further comprising: a connector coupling hole provided on the side face of the lever base; and a connector coupled into the connector coupling hole, the connector having a guide protrusion at a tip of the connector, the guide protrusion facing the guide path with a predetermined space therebetween, wherein, when the rod is inserted into the knob, the guide path guides the conducting wire in a direction perpendicular to the axial direction of the rod, a tip of the conducting wire extends into the connector coupling hole, and the conducting wire is connected to the connector coupled into the connector coupling hole.
According to the fifth aspect constituted as described above, since the conducting wire extending into the connector coupling hole is automatically coupled to the connector upon completion of the engagement of the knob with the lever member in a state where the connector has been coupled into the connector coupling hole, the coupling work of the conducting wire and the connector is simplified and the number of assembly steps is decreased.
For the first to the fifth aspects of the present invention, a tubular section parallel to the rod or a tapered section tapering toward the guide path can be provided in the insertion hole. The presence of the tubular section parallel to the rod in the insertion hole smoothens the insertion of the conducting wire thereto. The tapered section tapering toward the guide path further facilitates the insertion of the conducting wire.